Fire test methods cone calorimeter

Fire-test method development has followed two separate but complementary paths. One path, theoretically oriented, is characterized by the measuring of scientifically-meaningful fire properties, such as mass loss and rate-of-heat release. This approach also includes the development of mathematical models incorporating these properties to predict propagation and flame spread. A new lab-scale apparatus, the "cone calorimeter" developed at NIST is an example of the hardware now available to measure these fire properties. 

ISO 5660-1 Reaction-to-Fire Tests—I leal Release, Smoke Production and Mass Loss Rate—Part 1 Heat Release Rate (Cone Calorimeter Method). International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland. ISO 5660-2 Reaction-to-Fire Tests—I Ieat Release, Smoke Production and Mass Loss Rate—Part 2 Smoke Production Rate (Dynamic Measurement). International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland. ISO 9705 Fire Tests—Reaction-to-Fire—Room Fire Test. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland. 

In the early 1980s, Vytenis Babrauskas, at the NIST (then NBS), developed a more advanced test method to measure RHR the cone calorimeter (ASTM E 1354).71164 This fire test instrument can also be used to assess other fire properties, the most important of which are the ignitability (as discussed earlier), mass loss, and smoke released. Moreover, results from this instrument correlate with those from full-scale fires.165-170 To obtain the best overall understanding of the fire performance of the materials, it is important to test the materials under a variety of conditions. Therefore, tests are often conducted at a variety of incident heat fluxes. The peak rates of heat release (and total heat released) of the same materials shown in Table 21.15 at each incident flux, are shown in Table 21.16.147... 

Within ASTM, technical committees associated with plastics, electrical materials, textiles, protective clothing, thermal insulation, consumer products, detention and correctional facilities, and ships have developed tests that are often application tests that are of specific interest to the products involved. One fire test has spawned more application standards than any other, primarily because of its vast use in the United States ASTM E 84 (Steiner tunnel). Thus, NFPA 262, UL 1820, UL 1887, ASTM E 2231, ASTM E 2404, ASTM E 2573, ASTM E 2579, and ASTM E 2599 are all test methods and practices based on the Steiner tunnel test. In some cases, the base apparatus is being modified (although usually it is permissible to conduct the ASTM E 84 test in the apparatus of the other test, but it is often not permissible to conduct the other test in any apparatus complying with the ASTM E 84 apparatus). The other test method that has resulted in many application standards is the cone calorimeter the standards are ASTM D 5485, ASTM D 6113, ASTM E 1474, ASTM E 1740, and ASTM F 1550. 

ASTM D 6113 Standard Test Method for Using a Cone Calorimeter to Determine Fire-Test-Response Characteristics of Insulating Materials Contained in Electrical or Optical Fiber Cables ASTM D 6194 Standard Test Method for Glow Wire Ignition of Materials ASTM D 6413 Standard Test Method for Flame Resistance of Textiles (Vertical Test)... 

ISO 5660 Reaction-To-Fire Tests—Heat Release, Smoke Production And Mass Loss Rate—Part 1 Heat Release Rate (Cone Calorimeter Method), ISO, Geneva, Switzerland, 2002. 

ISO 5660-1 (1993), Fire test—Reaction to fire—Part 1, Rate of heat release from building products (cone calorimeter method),... 

ASTM E1354-04 (standard test method for heat and visible smoke release rates for materials and products using an oxygen consumption calorimeter) and ISO 5660-1 2002 (reaction-to-fire tests-heat release, smoke production, and mass loss rate - part 1 heat release rate, cone calorimeter method) for heat release and oxygen consumption. 

Tests performed in the apparatuses specified in the three standards listed above, i.e., ASTM E 1321/ISO 5658 (LIFT apparatus), ASTM E 1354/ISO 5660 (cone calorimeter), and ASTM E 2058 (fire propagation apparatus) provide complete set of fire properties for the assessment of ignition behavior of polymer products. These apparatuses also provide data in a format that is useful for the engineering methods in the performance-based lire codes. 

The heat of complete combustion is measured according to ASTM D 5865/ISO 1716 test methods [45,46]. The release rates of material vapors, heat, and various chemical compounds (including smoke) are measured according to ASTM E 906 (the Ohio State University Heat Release Rate, OSU-HRR, Apparatus), ASTM E 2058 (fire propagation apparatus) and ASTM E 1354/ISO 5660 (cone calorimeter) [45,46]. Smoke released in flaming and nonflaming fires of materials is also characterized... 

The Cone Calorimeter. The cone calorimeter is standardized in North America as ASTM E1354, Test Method for Heat and Visible Smoke Release Rates for Materials and Products Using an Oxygen Consumption Calorimeter, and internationally as ISO 5660-1, Fire Tests—Reaction to Fire—Part 1 Rate of Heat Release from Building Products (Cone Calorimeter Method). A photograph of a commercial version of the cone calorimeter is shown in Figure 28. 

As a results of the rapid increase in the fire model there is a great demand for the fire property and specialized test methods. New test methods have been developed such as [36] cone calorimeter, heat release measurements, etc. With these methods, the following fire properties have been measured for PO critical heat flux, thermal response parameter surface radiation loss, heat of gasification, flame heat flux limit, yield of products, heat of combustion, corrosion index, flame extinction index, fire propagation index, etc. [37]. 

The fire behavior of the foams can be tested with a cone calorimeter, according to standard test protocols (10,12). The test method is used to determine the ignitabUity, heat release rates, mass loss rates, effective heat of combustion, and visible smoke development of materials and products. 

The Intermediate-Scale Calorimeter (ICAL). One of the limitations of the Cone Calorimeter is that only relatively small samples can be evaluated. As a result, products that have joints or layered materials with a thickness exceeding 50 mm can generally not be tested in the Cone Calorimeter in a representative manner. For those types of products or assemblies, a larger calorimeter is required. Such an intermediate scale calorimeter forms the subject of ASTM standard E1623, Standard Test Method for Determination of Fire and Thermal Parameters of Materials, Products, and Systems Using an Intermediate Scale Calorimeter (ICAL). 

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